Patna: After refusing to pay bribe, Lebanese national locked up for 13 months

Patna: A Lebanese man, who was held in jail for around 13 months after he refused to pay bribe to cops in return for his freedom, said that he will continue to stay in India and fight for justice.

He is out on bail now, but is determined to get to the bottom of the injustice meted out to him.

Fadi Fadel came to India 13 months ago and was wrongfully put behind bars so that the police could allegedly extract a bribe from him.

Fadel, who was traveling to Nepal, purchased a bike without appropriate papers in Kathmandu. In order to get the papers renewed he had to travel to Janakpur in Nepal. He was directed towards Tanakpur in Uttarakhand and hence ended up in India.

He came to Bihar and stopped by to ask the police for help.

He said, "I came to India by mistake and the police demanded bribe to help me go back, otherwise they'll send me to jail. They wanted to make trouble for me. They put in more laws from the IPC to trouble me."

He added that the police used the expired documents of the bike and used it against him.

"The bike documents had expired. Even if the documents were expired, it'd take a month or two to check the documents. Why did it take 13 months?" he asked, questioning the sincerity of the officials.

Fadel was arrested for allegedly being a terrorist, with the information bureau claiming that they had received information about Fadel. The authencity of the information hasn't been proved to date.

The Lebanese Embassy in Bihar wasn't informed about Fadel as well.

"Why wasn't any official document sent to the Embassy? Why was my brother called before the embassy and no record of the call noted down?" he asked, claiming that the police asked his brother to come to the Sitamarhi Police Station to ask for bribe.

In addition to it, the jail authorities didn't treat him well. He had a minor heart attack and despite his medical reports claiming that he had abnormal ECG, he was taken back to the prison.

His lawyer, Shama Sinha said that the case is a matter of India's pride and reputation.

"In a time when we are fighting for Kulbhushan Yadav, such a case might harm our reputation. Hence, I took up his case and filed it in the High Court," she said.

According to Sinha, the police are giving back his documents because they are trying to cover up their mistakes and are incompetent to handle such matters.

Despite all the injustice he has been through, Fadel isn't willing to leave as yet.

He says, "I want to stay and fight for justice. More importantly, I want to fight against all the injustice the inmates in jail go through."